


Always Second Best

by Hardrada



Category: Star Trek: Alternate Original Series (Movies)
Genre: Bit of Fluff, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-02
Updated: 2020-09-02
Packaged: 2021-03-06 15:28:20
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 358
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26251183
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Hardrada/pseuds/Hardrada
Summary: McCoy realises he will always be second best.
Relationships: James T. Kirk/Leonard "Bones" McCoy
Comments: 11
Kudos: 51





	Always Second Best

**Author's Note:**

> This started off as a drabble but it's turned into a triple drabble - a trabble? Just a bit of nonsense.

Always Second Best

Leonard McCoy had not thought of himself as second-best for a long time. He had moved past the disasters of his younger years; his marriage now a distant memory. Even that, painful as it had been, had given him the joy of his beloved daughter. 

He was superb at his job; it wasn’t pride, it was a simple statement of truth; he could do things - _had done_ \- things that nobody else had done, things that had never been achieved before. He was at the top of his game, on the best ship in the fleet, at the forefront of exploration. He was one of the elite. No false modesty; to McCoy that was anathema. 

And he was loved. By God, he was loved. By the best of the best, who looked at him as if he was safe anchor; who slept by his side every night and simply loved him. Nobody else ever saw that side of their Captain, never knew what he was like deep in the night as McCoy took him apart and put him together again however he chose.

And yet… even being who he was; being one of the elite, being loved so much it felt as if his heart would burst, still, after all these years, he realised he was and always would be second best in one thing.

Because Jim Kirk, the love of his life, the brightest star in McCoy’s sky, loved his Silver Lady beyond anything else. He had even died for her once, because she was part of his crew - his family - and always would be.. As he held McCoy’s face between his hands and looked at him in that way he had, that way that needed no words, McCoy realised that. He knew he was second best.

And for the only time in his life, that was okay. Because for all she was loved, the _Enterprise_ couldn’t put Jim back together when he had risked his life, or laugh at him when he fell over Kevin and broke his ankle. And the _Enterprise_ couldn’t purely love him.

So in this case, second best was okay.


End file.
